Pork Milanese

Pork Milanese

I have always been drawn to cooking Italian food. One of the reasons I love Italian cuisine is that you can make some incredible dishes with very few ingredients. The other thing I love is taking classics and trying something new. Breaded cutlets are traditionally made with veal, but this week I will show you how to make a delicious Pork Milanese.

Interestingly enough, I have only made Pork Milanese twice in my cooking career and in between these two times, I packed and moved and then packed and moved again. Often times, one loses things when moving and the sacrifice this time was my poor meat mallet. This brings me to this week’s cooking tip. If you don’t have a mallet for pounding meat, an old fashioned hammer will work just fine. But, please make sure for sanitary reasons to use a piece of plastic over the meat before pounding. And lightly pound only! It’s a great way to let out frustration and you get a beautiful piece of meat in the process.

Pound the pork chops on a work service until they are approximately ¼ inch thick.

Place flour on a large bowl or plate. Plate eggs in a wide bowl. Mix bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, basil, and thyme in another bowl.

Sprinkle pork chops with salt and pepper. Working one pork chop at a time, dredge the chops in the flour and lightly coat, then dip the chops into the beaten eggs. Let the excess egg drip off. Finally, coat the pork chops with the bread crumb mixture, pressing gently to adhere.

In a large, heavy sauté pan, melt butter in the oil over medium heat until hot. Place chops in and cook until light golden brown, about 3 minutes each side. Transfer each chop to a plate and serve immediately with a lemon wedge.